Books like The Heir: 98 fan favorites

By Kiera Cass,

Here are 98 books that The Heir fans have personally recommended if you like The Heir. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Court of Fives

Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne Author Of City of Savages

From my list on speculative fiction featuring sisters.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m an avid reader of speculative fiction: fantasy, science fiction, horror, ā€œwhat-ifā€ stories of our world with a twist... you name it, Iā€™m in. But what really sells a spec-fic story for me is the characters that populate the world ā€“ the relationships that form the heart of the otherworldly story ā€“ and Iā€™ve always found sisterhood, in particular, extremely compelling. Iā€™ve actually written two speculative books featuring sisters myself, and have another sisters-driven adventure coming out next year! Iā€™m also one of three sisters, and growing up, these relationships served as the basis of so many memories, as well as informed so much of who I am.

Lee's book list on speculative fiction featuring sisters

Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne Why did Lee love this book?

Kate Elliottā€™s young adult series feels a bit like Game of Thrones meets Little Women (both of which I loved, so Elliottā€™s concept was a dream mash-up for me!). The protagonist, Jessamy, lives in a fantasy world divided by class, a domain where laudable competitors compete in a series of various trials and tribulations called the Fives. As a writer, I found Elliottā€™s world so well thought out and executed, but it was the Little Women elements of this series that most claimed my reader heart. I treasured the quieter moments between Jessamy and her sisters, who are all memorable, fully rendered, and compelling, and the relationships between them, complex and real.

By Kate Elliott,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Court of Fives as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Now available in paperback, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott's first young adult novel was praised by Kirkus for its "gripping, original plot; vivid, complicated characters; and layered, convincingly detailed world building."

Jessamy's life is a balance between acting like an upper-class Patron and dreaming of the freedom of the Commoners. But away from her family she can be whomever she wants when she sneaks out to train for The Fives, an intricate, multilevel athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom's best contenders.

Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an improbably friendship between two Fives competitors--one ofā€¦


Book cover of The Choosing

Jessica Lauren Author Of Liberation

From my list on Christians who loved the Hunger Games.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always loved fictional works that explore deep truths of humanity and existence. As a teen struggling to understand my purpose and beliefs, I grew fond of dystopian books with subtle, hope-filled messages pointing to God as our salvation amid chaos. I loved the genre so much that I began writing a Christian dystopian novel of my own and self-published it at 19, weaving pieces of my testimony throughout the main character's inner journey. For me, a book is only as good as its characters, no matter how gripping the plot is. So, the books on this list contain some of the genre's most authentic, intricately written souls.

Jessica's book list on Christians who loved the Hunger Games

Jessica Lauren Why did Jessica love this book?

The Choosing is close to my heart because it highlights how the lowest in society, the outcasts, the unchosen, are chosen by God. The main characterā€™s ongoing battle to see her worth struck a chord with me when I first read it as a teen struggling with my identity.

The overarching theme of this book is that when the world says you are worthless, God says you are priceless. The intriguing plot reeled me in from the first chapter, and the characters were so well fleshed out that I wished I could befriend them in person.

The Choosing is a beautifully crafted YA Christian dystopia, and finishing the book made me feel like I was saying goodbye to family.

By Rachelle Dekker,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Choosing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

2016 Christy Award Winner! (Young Adult category)
2016 Christy Award Finalist (First novel category)
Like all citizens since the Ruining, Carrington Hale knows the importance of this day. But she never expected the moment sheā€™d spent a lifetime preparing forā€•her Choosing ceremonyā€•to end in disaster. Ripped from her family, sheā€™ll spend her days serving as a Lint, the lowest level of society. She knows itā€™s her duty to follow the true way of the Authority.

But as Carrington begins this nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs. Though the whispers contradict everything sheā€™s been told, they resonate deep within.

Thenā€¦


Book cover of The Maid of Fairbourne Hall

A.E. Walnofer Author Of A Girl Called Foote

From my list on servants fake and otherwise.

Why am I passionate about this?

None of us had any choice about where or when we were born, nor under what circumstances. Marie Antoinette could have just as easily been born the illegitimate daughter of a scullery maid as the archduchess of Austria that she was. Thatā€™s why the whole servant-employer dynamic has always intrigued me. Servants are, in fact, real people, always have been. Though theyā€™re often treated as little more than sticks of furniture, servants have been overhearing, observing, revealing, and plotting a lot of fascinating things throughout all time.

A.E.'s book list on servants fake and otherwise

A.E. Walnofer Why did A.E. love this book?

Wellborn Margaret Macy is not used to hard work, so when she falls on hard times and disguises herself as a maid in a gentlemanā€™s palatial home, sheā€™s going to have difficulties. However, itā€™s not just a matter of getting the silver shiny as she also has to remain undetected by her employerā€¦who tried to court her not so very long ago.

By Julie Klassen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Maid of Fairbourne Hall as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Regency Romance and Mystery from Bestselling Author Julie Klassen

Pampered Margaret Macy flees London in disguise to escape pressure to marry a dishonorable man. With no money and nowhere else to go, she takes a position as a housemaid in the home of Nathaniel Upchurch, a suitor she once rejected in hopes of winning his dashing brother. Praying no one will recognize her, Margaret fumbles through the first real work of her life. If she can last until her next birthday, she will gain an inheritance from a spinster aunt--and sweet independence. But can she remain hidden as a servantā€¦


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Book cover of One Giant Leap

One Giant Leap by Ben Gartner,

Iā€™m pretty sure Iā€™m about to die in space. And I just turned twelve and a half.

Blast off with the four winners of the StellarKid Project on a trip to the International Space Station and then to the Gateway outpost orbiting the Moon! Itā€™s a dream come true untilā€¦

Book cover of Spheres of Influence: The Social Ecology of Racial and Class Inequality: The Social Ecology of Racial and Class Inequality

Douglas S. Massey Author Of American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass

From my list on how neighborhoods perpetuate inequality.

Why am I passionate about this?

My mother was the child of immigrants from Finland with grade-school educations who grew up in a small Alaskan town with no roads in or out. She came down to the ā€œlower 48ā€ during the Second World War to work her way through the University of Washington, where she met my father. He was a multigenerational American with two college-educated parents. His mother graduated from Whitman College in 1919 and looked down on my mother as a child of poorly educated immigrants. She was also openly hostile toward Catholics, Blacks, and Jews and probably didnā€™t think much of Finns either. Witnessing my grandmotherā€™s disdain for minorities and the poor including my mother, I learned about racism and class prejudice firsthand. But I am my motherā€™s son, and I resented my grandmotherā€™s self-satisfied posturing. Therefore Iā€™ve always been on the side of the underdog and made it my business to learn all that I could about how inequalities are produced and perpetuated in the United States, and to do all I can to make the world a fairer, more egalitarian place.

Douglas' book list on how neighborhoods perpetuate inequality

Douglas S. Massey Why did Douglas love this book?

In addition to neighborhoods, Americans also experience rampant inequalities across other social settings such as families, schools, and peer networks. These settings define the ecological context within which humans develop and each ā€œsphere of influenceā€ determines the development trajectories of people as the move from childhood, through adolescence, and into adulthood. This book examines how each of these spheres affects human development at different stages of the life course among White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian young people in the United States to produce the racial and class inequalities that characterize contemporary American society.

By Douglas S. Massey, Stefanie Brodmann,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Spheres of Influence as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The black-white divide has long haunted the United States as a driving force behind social inequality. Yet, the civil rights movement, the increase in immigration, and the restructuring of the economy in favor of the rich over the last several decades have begun to alter the contours of inequality. Spheres of Influence, co-authored by noted social scientists Douglas S. Massey and Stefanie Brodmann, presents a rigorous new study of the intersections of racial and class disparities today. Massey and Brodmann argue that despite the persistence of potent racial inequality, class effects are drastically transforming social stratification in America. This data-intensiveā€¦


Book cover of A Brief History of Equality

Mark Robert Rank Author Of The Poverty Paradox: Understanding Economic Hardship Amid American Prosperity

From my list on understanding the paradox of American inequality.

Why am I passionate about this?

For much of my career as a sociologist and professor of social welfare, Iā€™ve focused my research and teaching on the issue of economic and social inequality in America. Why should the United States have both great wealth and yet at the same time extreme poverty and inequities? This question has motivated much of my scholarly and popular writing over the years. For me, this represents the fault line of America. We profess the importance that all are created equal, and yet our actions undermine such a belief. Why should this be the case, and how can we change the reality to reflect the ideal? 

Mark's book list on understanding the paradox of American inequality

Mark Robert Rank Why did Mark love this book?

Thomas Pikettyā€™s earlier book, Capitalism, was one of those books that many people purchased but only wound up reading the first 20 pages because of its dense argument and writing style. 

A Brief History of Capitalism is much more accessible, and in my opinion, useful. The book takes a long-term perspective for examining inequalities among social classes in human societies. Pikettyā€™s argument is that since the end of the 18th century, there has been a long-term movement toward more social, economic, and political equality.

The book provides an excellent overview of inequality across time.

By Thomas Piketty, Steven Rendall (translator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Brief History of Equality as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
A Public Books Best Book of the Year

"An opportunity for readers to see Piketty bring his larger argument about the origins of inequality and his program for fighting it into high relief."
-Nicholas Lemann, New York Times

The world's leading economist of inequality presents a short but sweeping and surprisingly optimistic history of human progress toward equality despite crises, disasters, and backsliding. A perfect introduction to the ideas developed in his monumental earlier books.

It's easy to be pessimistic about inequality. We know it has increased dramatically in many parts ofā€¦


Book cover of Vanity Fair

Cinda Gault Author Of A Small Compass

From my list on going on the road.

Why am I passionate about this?

Historical fiction meets the picaresque in many novels about going on the road. As a fiction writer, my narrative tools are not forged in a vacuum. I stand on the shoulders of centuries of writers who invented the novel form and developed it through its beginnings in romance and all its permutations since. In my new book, I am following innovations in two genres. In historical romance, romance ā€œfellā€ into history. What was lost in the historical world could be made up in the romance of heroic characters. In the picaresque, characters belonging to the lower echelons of society ā€œgo on the roadā€ for all sorts of reasons, mostly to survive.

Cinda's book list on going on the road

Cinda Gault Why did Cinda love this book?

Becky Sharpe is a character impossible to forget.

Through all the twists and turns of this plot, Becky shows herself to be both conniving and resilient in her quest to use those around her for her own gain. While not an attractive rendition of human nature, she forever has a wolf at her door and does what she thinks she must to stay one step ahead.

One gets whiplash from sympathizing with her one minute and being appalled by her lack of scruples the next, but, like all the characters she hoodwinks, we are captivated by her as someone who is never boring. She hops from one doomed circumstance to the next, and we are along for the ride.

By William Makepeace Thackeray,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked Vanity Fair as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair depicts the anarchic anti-heroine Beky Sharpe cutting a swathe through the eligible young men of Europe, set against a lucid backdrop of war and international chaos. This Penguin Classics edition is edited with an introduction and notes by John Carey.

No one is better equipped in the struggle for wealth and worldly success than the alluring and ruthless Becky Sharp, who defies her impoverished background to clamber up the class ladder. Her sentimental companion Amelia Sedley, however, longs only for the caddish soldier George. As the two heroines make their way through the tawdry glamourā€¦


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Book cover of Mannigan: A Speck of Light

Mannigan by L. Ross Coulter,

Born from the ashes of the old world, the great cities of humanity's new hope are beacons of light. Yet freed from the depths of a cruel prison, Will Manning is left with nothing but rage. Seeking revenge against the tyrannical rule of the Vitruvian elite with the help ofā€¦

Book cover of Perfect Chemistry

Mindy Hardwick Author Of Weaving Magic

From my list on YA romance bad boys.

Why am I passionate about this?

Bad boys in young adult romance have always been one of my favorite tropes to read. For seven years, I facilitated a poetry workshop with teens in a juvenile detention center and got to hear their storiesā€”the heartbreak, the challenges, and the triumphs under all that bad boy faƧade. My memoir, Kids in Orange: Voices from Juvenile Detention, is about the workshops and helped me understand both myself as a writer and the ā€œbad boysā€ who wrote poetry each week. There are a lot of complexities to bad boy characters and the most satisfying stories are the ones where the bad boys redeem themselves and find love. 

Mindy's book list on YA romance bad boys

Mindy Hardwick Why did Mindy love this book?

Perfect Chemistry is one of the books I read as a model for writing the character relationship between my young adult novel characters, Shantel and Christopher. Alex is the perfectly crafted bad boy character who falls in love with Brittany and in the process is changed with how he sees his life. 

By Simone Elkeles,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Perfect Chemistry as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

From the New York Times bestselling author Simone Elkeles comes an epic love story like no other . . . First in the gripping PERFECT CHEMISTRY series, this is the next addictive read for fans of Anna Todd's AFTER series, and Caroline Kepnes's YOU.

When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created 'perfect' life is about to unravel before her eyes. Forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, Brittany finds herself having to protect everything she'sā€¦


Book cover of No Politics But Class Politics

Todd Cronan Author Of Red Aesthetics: Rodchenko, Brecht, Eisenstein

From my list on art and politics belong together.

Why am I passionate about this?

Even the purest of artists thrive under tension. For some artists, politics has provided a crucial source of tension which has led to great achievement. Usually, it doesnā€™t. Why? Because artists, like critics, are often poor at gauging political realities. (Artists are usually better off not getting involved with ā€œideological confusion and violence,ā€ as Greenberg put it.) Occasionally, though, problems become so acute that being unserious about the world is not an optionā€”the 1930s was like this for some, and maybe a second Trump presidency will have a similar effect on artists and critics today, although there is real room for doubt.

Todd's book list on art and politics belong together

Todd Cronan Why did Todd love this book?

Ok, I cheated (already). This is not really about art, but it is about politics. There are some essays on art, but all of it is about how badly we have screwed up how we think about politics, especially in the United States.

We think and talkā€”incessantly, endlesslyā€”about disparities between groups. What this book shows, from every angle, is that this way of talking and thinking is how exploiters want us to talk and think. Sounds counterintuitive, I know.

The point is to stop talking about disparities and disproportionalities of awfulness and start talking about class inequality. The point is also to say that addressing class inequality is addressing disparities, but not vice versa. 

By Walter Benn Michaels, Adolph Reed Jr., Daniel Zamora (editor) , Anton Jager (editor)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked No Politics But Class Politics as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Denouncing racism and celebrating diversity have become central to progressive politics. For many on the left, it seems, social justice would consist of an equitable distribution of wealth, power and esteem among racial groups. But as Adolph Reed Jr. and Walter Benn Michaels argue in this incisive collection of essays, the emphasis here is tragically misplaced. Not only can a fixation with racial disparities distract from the pervasive influence of class, it can actually end up legitimising economic inequality. As Reed and Michaels put it, ā€œracism is real and anti-racism is both admirable and necessary, but extant racism isnā€™t whatā€¦


Book cover of Classes and Cultures: England 1918-1951

Robert Colls Author Of George Orwell: English Rebel

From my list on George Orwell.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was first introduced to George Orwell on 30 October 1969 when I bought the Penguin Road to Wigan Pier at Sussex University bookshop. The light blue sticker on the inside verifies time and place. The price shows that I was willing to fork out as much as 4 shillings, (or two days worth of cigarettes) for one of the most enduring friendships of my life.

Robert's book list on George Orwell

Robert Colls Why did Robert love this book?

If you are going to read Orwell you need to know something about what Mckibbin calls the ā€œfundamental mentalities and structuresā€ of English social and political life. This is the best, covering Orwellā€™s life-span. These were the years when England first began to see itself as ā€˜democraticā€™, and yet, ā€œthe great mass of the English people was unmoved, or unmoved directly, by the cultures of the countryā€™s intellectual elitesā€. Enter George Orwell.

By Ross McKibbin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Classes and Cultures as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Ross McKibbin investigates the ways in which 'class culture' characterized English society, and intruded into every aspect of life, during the period from 1918 to the mid-1950s. He demonstrates the influence of social class within the mini 'cultures' which together constitute society: families and family life, friends and neighbours, the workplace, schools and colleges, religion, sexuality, sport, music, film, and radio. Dr McKibbin considers the ways in which
language was used (both spoken and written) to define one's social grouping, and how far changes occurred to language and culture more generally as a result of increasing American influence. He assessesā€¦


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Book cover of A School for Unusual Girls

A School for Unusual Girls by Kathleen Baldwin,

A spy school for girls amidst Jane Austenā€™s high society.

Daughters of the Beau Monde who donā€™t fit London societyā€™s strict mold are banished to Stranje House, where the headmistress trains these unusually gifted girls to enter the dangerous world of spies in the Napoleonic wars. #1 NYT bestselling authorā€¦

Book cover of Pride and Prejudice

Maia Correll Author Of Dare to Au Pair

From my list on romances that lead to character transformation.

Why am I passionate about this?

Ever since my younger years, Iā€™ve spent many hours dwelling within the realms of my imagination, daydreaming myself into whirlwind romances from slow-burn to forbidden and everything in between. Why? The best answer I can give right now is my love of love, my innate understanding that the invisible string that pulls two people so fiercely together at the right time and place ultimately are the connections and relationships that propel us into up-leveling ourselves, evolving into our next best versions. So when I read, watch, or write romance, itā€™s beyond the physicalā€“itā€™s emotional, mental, and truly spiritual.

Maia's book list on romances that lead to character transformation

Maia Correll Why did Maia love this book?

I return to this book time and again because of the captivating connection Elizabeth and Darcy share. Itā€™s not just the tension on the surface, but itā€™s what goes on emotionally and psychologically with them that has me enchanted.

Austen does a fantastic job of portraying how love will sneak up on you when youā€™re not even looking for it, how it will push you to face the parts of yourself youā€™ve been avoiding for too long and to stand boldly in your authentic character while holding compassion for anotherā€™s perspective.

Every time I read this book, I feel I know the characters at a more intimate level as new fractals of their personalities and behaviors shine through.

By Jane Austen,

Why should I read it?

40 authors picked Pride and Prejudice as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One of BBC's 100 Novels That Shaped Our World.

Jane Austen's best-loved novel is an unforgettable story about the inaccuracy of first impressions, the power of reason, and above all the strange dynamics of human relationships and emotions.

Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is illustrated by Hugh Thomson and features an afterword by author and critic, Henry Hitchings.

A tour de force of wit and sparkling dialogue, Pride andā€¦


Book cover of Court of Fives
Book cover of The Choosing
Book cover of The Maid of Fairbourne Hall

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